75 years ago, Genesee County judge ordered strikers out of General Motors' plants

FLINT, Michigan -- A Genesee County Circuit Court judge heard arguments 75 years ago today to determine whether to grant an injunction forcing workers out of the two Fisher Body plants in which the Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37 started.

The hearing came on one of the most tense days of the 44-day strike that led to General Motors' recognition of the UAW, the same day that workers took over the Chevrolet No. 4 plant here after rioting at another plant in the Chevrolet complex as well.

The
Flint Journal reported at the time that Judge Paul V. Gadola issued a
temporary injunction the next day, ordering strikers to leave the occupied plants
on or before 3 p.m. on Feb. 4, but "doubts existed ... that the strikers would leave the plants."

"Union headquarters here announced ... that the strikers in both plants had sent telegrams to Gov. Murphy, informing him they would not leave and that any blood shed forcing them out would be on his hands," The Journal reported.

Gadola had been under pressure to hold off in deciding the injunction. Murphy preferred that the judge not issue his opinion immediately to avoid setting up another showdown between police and the strikers.

In his book "Sit-Down," the late Sidney Fine said when Gadola was told by a UAW attorney that Murphy desired an adjournment, "the judge, no friend of organized labor and a staunch Republican, responded sulphurically, 'The hell with the governor.' "

"In a lengthy opinion issued the next day, Gadola granted GM the preliminary mandatory injunction that it had requested," Fine wrote. "The sole question involved, he argued, was the right of strikers to occupy the premises involved in the litigation ..."

Although Gadola threatened the union with a fine of $15 million if they disobeyed his order, some workers found it to be almost a laughing matter, Fine wrote.

" 'If the judge can get $15 million bucks from us,' a Fisher No. 1 sit-downer reportedly remarked, 'he's welcome to it.' "